British prosecutors on Tuesday accused Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s former minister of petroleum resources and the first woman to serve as president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of enjoying a “life of luxury” funded by bribes.

The 65-year-old appeared in the dock at Southwark Crown Court in London on the opening day of her trial, where she is facing multiple counts of bribery allegedly committed between 2011 and 2015, during her tenure under former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Prosecutors told the court that individuals seeking “lucrative oil and gas contracts” with Nigeria’s state-owned petroleum corporation provided “significant financial or other advantages” to Mrs. Alison-Madueke.

“As a minister, she should not have accepted benefits from those who were doing, no doubt extremely lucrative, business in oil and gas with government-owned entities,” the prosecution said.

Mrs. Alison-Madueke is accused of receiving “financial or other advantages” from individuals linked to Atlantic Energy and SPOG Petrochemical groups. According to prosecutors, both companies secured contracts with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) or its subsidiaries.

The former minister is also alleged to have received £100,000 in cash, chauffeur-driven cars, a private jet flight to Nigeria, as well as refurbishment works and staff costs for several London properties.

Additional counts allege that she received bribes in the form of school fees for her son, luxury goods from high-end retailers such as Harrods and Louis Vuitton, and further private jet flights.

Mrs. Alison-Madueke, who served as OPEC president between 2014 and 2015, has been the subject of multiple legal proceedings globally, including in the United States. In Nigeria, courts seized several properties belonging to her in 2017, valued at several million dollars.

A spokesperson for Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) confirmed that the agency still has “some subsisting cases against her,” without providing further details.

Mrs. Alison-Madueke has been on bail since her arrest in London in October 2015 and has consistently denied all charges against her. She was formally charged with accepting bribes in 2023.

“We suspect Diezani Alison-Madueke abused her power in Nigeria and accepted financial rewards for awarding multi-million-pound contracts,” the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) said at the time.

Two other defendants, Mr. Doye Agama—her brother—and Mr. Olatimbo Ayinde, are also standing trial on bribery charges linked to the case. Prosecutors said all three had British addresses at the time of the alleged offences.

Presiding judge, Mrs. Justice Justine Thornton, said she hoped the trial would conclude by April 24.